: I am trying to decide between building a Greenland or Aleutian paddle from a
: laminated cedar blank I made from scrap. I have limited experience with an
: Aleutian paddle, but have used Greenland paddles for about three years. I
: have a Shearwater Merganser I made from plans, and posses a decent but not
: bombproof layback roll (Pawlatta). Most of my paddling is done on Puget
: Sound on day trips. Any advice on strengths and weaknesses of the Aleutian
: paddle would be great. I don't have a desire to build one just because I
: don't have one as I don't have a laminated Greenland Paddle either so
: either one would be good. Here is my boat (hatches have since been
: modified with an under deck attachment
: system)http://www.shearwater-boats.com/joeclarkvideo.wmv.

I'm certainly no expert, was hoping someone else would jump in here, but my GP's are sort of a combination of the conventional GP shape and the Aleutian shape and I like them better than the conventional GP, to me it's more stable when paddling (probably due to lousy technique ) and offers a choice of paddle faces depending on the day and conditions.

I've also got an old commercially built paddle with the Aleutian shape without the spline on the back (think it's a Grey Owl, but I'm not certain), it's very difficult to paddle with not having that spline, quite unstable.

Bill H.